Harrison P. and Flora were enumerated in the 1910 Waterford, Erie Co., PA, federal census. He was a flower mill miller, age 41, she was 32. The only other person in the household was her father, John E. Phelps 81.

Phelps H. and P. Flora were enumerated in the 1920 Waterford, Erie Co., PA federal census. He was a manufacturer in a flower mill, age 51, she was 41. There was no one else in teh household.

H. Phelps and Flora P. were enumerated in the 1930 Waterford, Erie Co., PA, federal census. He was 61, she was 52. There was no one else in the household.

Niles and Ann were enumerated in the 1850 Huntington, Gallia Co., OH, federal census. He was a farmer, age 53, she was 45. Children in the household were William R. 18, Livona 14, Janette 12, Return I. 5, and Esther A. 5 months. Also in the household was Janett Howell, 69.

Niles and Ann were enumerated in the 1856 Van Buren Co., Iowa State census. He was a laborer, age 58(?) she was 46. Children in the household were Janette 18, Return I. 11, and Esther A. 8. They had been living in Iowa for 3 years.

Niles and Ann were enumerated in the 1860 Village, Van Buren Co., IA, federal census. He was a farmer age 62, she was 52. Children in the household were a female 22, Return I. 15, and Esther 11.

Niles and Ann were enumerated in the 1870 Village, Van Buren Co., IA, federal census. He was a farmer age 72, she was 60. There were no children in the household.

Robert enlisted July 25, 1861, as a resident of Bloomfield, Cavi Co., IA, in the 10th MO Union Regt. and served through the war. He had changed his name from Robert Ira to Return Ira to adopt the name of his great-great-grandfather, Return Holcombe, a Revolutionary soldier.

Return Ira became a printer and writer for newspapers, principally on historical subjects. From 1888-90 he wrote histories of Greene and Marion counties, MO, and manyother local histories and biograhies. From 1911-13 published many extensive histories in MN; in 1916, history of the 1st MN Regt in war of 1861-65. As Asst. Sec'y of the MN Historical Society he next wrote chapters in a history of St. Paul, MN, including 129 biographies. His last years were spent writing histories and biographies of Carver, Hannepin and McLeod counties, MN; had lived in Clarinda, Page Co., IA. In 1911 he wrote a history of Portland, Iowa that was published in the State Line Democrat of Keosauqua, Iowa that reads in part:

Portland was laid out by Sam'l R. Holcomb in about 1838 - maybe in 1836; the plat in the court house will show. His father, old Stephen Holcomb, and his five sons, Samuel R., Robert, John Vinton, DeWitt Clinton and Zepaniah, came to Van Buren county in about 1836. They settled upon an extensive tract of land along the south side of the Des Moines, extending from the old Samuel Robinson farm, where the road leaves the river and cuts across the Irish Bend, clear up to a mile and more west of or above Holcomb creek, and running back from the river about two miles. Thus the Holcomb settlement comprised about twelve square miles all of which they seem to have laid claim to and which ws partially settled by members of the family.

With old Uncle Stephen and his five sons, or soon thereafter, came the old man’s three married daughters, Mrs. Sallie Shinn, wife of Rev Moses Shinn; Mrs. Susan Friend, wife of John Friend, and Mrs. Tryphena Matterson, wife of Dr. Allen Matterson. Three of Uncle Stephen’s children died young, and it is evident that race suicide was not prevalent in his family.

The Holcombs and their brothers-in-law worked had at clearing the heavily timbered Des Moines bottom lands and in subduing the wilderness generally. In time they succeeded, but the majority of them died. Samuel R. lived at the mouth of Holcomb creek, and facing the Des Moines to the north. He had a numerous family of children, but a majority of them, as well as himself and his wife, died of consumption before 1850; another son and daughter – the latter a beautiful, accomplished girl – died before 1860. The last survivor of the family, Robert Virgil, went to the Montana gold mines in 1864 and was lost in the life and wilds of the northwest.

Samuel R. and his brothers tried to build a dam across the Des Moines, just above the mouth of Holcomb creek. They found it too big a jog, so they went up Holcomb creek, a mile from its mouth, and build a very good dam and a corn-cracker mill at the north end of a high limestone cliff. The mill and dam stood for some years, when high water washed away the dam and after a time the mill was torn down. My father came to the county in 1853 and my cousins and I often played about the foundation logs of the old mill, and I well remember its history as related to me. Three of the Holcomb sons and the father, Uncle Stephen, had their cabins on the creek, as well as the mill, and this is why the stream was called Holcomb creek. I hope that modern authorities will not change it to something Italian or Spanish in sound.

When Sam’l R. Holcomb laid out his town he expected it to become quite a landing and port for steam boats, where they would land frequently, and so with propriety, he called the place Portland. The first mill in the place was a horse mill, constructed and operated by him and my uncle, Levi Howell. This mill stood on the west side of Holcomb creek, near its mouth. The two enterprises were well known as the Holcombe Mills. Maybe they were the first – certainly they were among the first – in Van Buren county.

Mr. Holcomb tried hard to build up a town. He sold good-sized lots for $5 each to parties that would agree to build. He donated the logs for the first store and blacksmith shop and he and his brothers built the firs school house, a small log structure. Had he lived the town might have amounted to more than it did, for he was an intelligent man, public spirited, and a great worker.

Robert Holcomb, an old bachelor, was another town founder. He laid out the town of Lexington, on the north side of the Des Moines, below Portland, but it never had more than three or four houses. His claim was the farthest down the river of the Holcombe tract. It eventually became the Robinson farm.

Citations

Phoebe AnnHolcombe was born on 30 May 1823.1 She was the daughter of AlpheusHolcombe and HannahKingsbury. Phoebe Ann Holcombe was born on 30 March 1828.3 She married DavidSmiley on 23 September 1846.4 Phoebe Ann Holcombe died in 1904.

Bradford Co., PA, Marriages from 1840 through 1869, as printed by the Rev. Edward C. Hoagland in his Twigs from Family Trees, 1940. These records were taken from two Bradford County newspapers - the "Bradford Porter" and the "Bradford Reporter".